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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY 

NUMBER 8 




STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL 
SUPERVISION 



ILLUSTRATED BY A STUDY OF THE STOUGHTON, 
WISCONSIN, SCHOOLS 



BY 

FRANK LESLIE CLAPP 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 



MADISON 
1922 



&:V^., 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

NUMBER 27 SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY NO. 8 

DECEMBER, 1922 PRICE 50 CENTS 

Published bi-monthly by the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, 

Wisconsin. 

Entered as second class matter August 31, 1919, at the postofflce 
at Madison, Wisconsin, under the Act of August 24, 1912. Accepted 
for mailing at special rates of postage provided for in Section 1103, 
Act of October 3, 1917. Authorized September 17, 1918. 



The Studies may be obtained from the Secretary of the Regents, 
University cf Wisconsin, to whom checks and money orders should 
be made payable. 

No. 1. The colonial citizen of New York City, by Robert Francis 
Seybolt. 40p. 1918. 50 cents. 

No. 2. The restoration of the southern railroads, by Carl Russell 
Fish. 28p. 1919. 50 cents. 

No. 3. The misinterpretation of Locke as a formalist in educational 
philosophy, by Vivian Trow Thayer. 24p. 1921. 50 cents. 

No. 4. Scientific determination of the content of the elementary 
school course in reading, by Willis Lemon Uhl. 152p. 

1921. 11.50. 

No. 5. Cycles of prosperity and depression in the United States, 
Great Britain, and Germany, by Alvin Harvey Hansen. 
112p. 1921. $1.00. 

No. 6. A large estate in Egypt in the third century B. C— A study 
in economic history, by Michael Rostovtzefl. 210p. 

1922. $2.00. 

No. 7. The distichs of Cato — ^Translated from the Latin with intro- 
ductory sketch, by Wayland Johnson Chase. 44p. 
1922. 50 cents. 

No. 8. Standard tests as aids in school supervision, by Frank 
Leslie Clapp. 56p. 1922. 50 cents. 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY 

NUMBER 8 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL 
SUPERVISION 



ILLUSTRATED BY A STUDY OF THE STOUGHTON, 
WISCONSIN, SCHOOLS 



BY 

FRANK LESLIE CLAPP 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 



MADISON 
1922 



m iiUpj,«Ha|WaM«tR^HinBM^"*-^^ 






LlSnARY OF CONGRESS 
DOCUMGNTS D^ViSIO 



^ 



CONTENTS 



Section I — The School as a Whole 

/ Page 

General explanation 7 

General results of tests 9 

^ Significance of test results 12 

The classification of pupils tested 13 

Boys and girls compared ^ 16 

Diagnosis of work in reading 19 

Section II — Individual Rooms and Pupils 

The responsibility of the teacher 25 

Plan for reporting results to teachers and pupils... 27 

Diagnosing a showing in language : 32 

^Diagnosing a showing in arithmetic 32 

-Remedial and constructive work in spelling 38 

Grouping of pupils for instruction 39 

Tests in the high school 42 

Section III — Some Special Phases 

How elementary pupils spend their time 45 

Some characteristics of instruction 50 

How teachers spend their time 52 

Results of intelligence and scholastic tests compared 53 



INTRODUCTION 



The use of standard tests in the schools has become very 
common. In many cases, perhaps in the larger number, the 
work has ended with a mere evaluation of general conditions— 
a comparison of the showings of the various rooms with the 
standards. 

Two possible reasons account for this. First, the procedure 
to be followed in such analyses has not been determined in any 
complete way. Second, the amount of detailed work necessary 
for a complete analysis of the scholastic and intelligence levels 
of a considerable number of pupils is very great. 

The present study constitutes an attempt to exemplify in 
concrete form a procedure that may be used in a more detailed 
analysis of school conditions than is ordinarily attempted. 
Since the work has been completed, the imperfections of many 
of the methods used stand out clearly. It is hoped, however, 
that others may be encouraged to perfect a procedure that may 
be far more helpful in the work of our schools. 

As to the second of these considerations, there is no ques- 
tion as to the fact that teachers and supervisors are burdened 
with work. This condition comes, perhaps, from the very 
commendable conception that the first and all-important duty 
of teachers is to teach and of supervisors to direct the work 
of teaching. While this is true, it yet seems rather obvious 
that a careful and complete diagnosis of the conditions with 
which a teaching corps is working should be of considerable 
assistance in the most effective direction of that work. In 
fact, such a diagnosis would seem to be a first essential. It is 
true that the amount of work necessary for a study such as 
that made in the Stoughton schools and reported herein may 
seem altogether too large for a superintendent and his teach- 
ers to undertake alone. Such would be the case if the work is 
regarded as something aside from, and in addition to, the reg- 
ular work of teaching. However, there is large justification 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



for the notion that such work is a legitimate part o£ the work 
of teaching and may well be substituted for a portion of the 
work of "hearing classes" or "directing study." 

The field work and general tabulation were carried on by a 
class of students in the University of Wisconsin in connection 
with a course entitled, Surveys and Tests, during the spring 
of 1920. In the summer following another class completed the 
detailed analysis of data. 

Grateful appreciation is hereby expressed to Superintendent 
C. J. Anderson of the Stoughton schools, now Assistant Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction for Wisconsin. The study 
was made possible only by the active sympathy of Mr. Ander- 
son and his teachers toward such work and by their enthu- 
siastic and unstinted assistance. 

F. L. C. 



SECTION I 

THE SCHOOL AS A WHOLE 

General Explanation 

The purpose in using standard tests of scholastic attainment 
in the schools was to reveal the points of strength and of weak- 
ness in the school as a whole, in single rooms, and in the work 
of individual pupils. In order to do this at all fully, it seemed 
necessary to use a rather large number of tests. The follow- 
ing tests were used in all grades for which they are in- 
tended : 



Writing 


Arithmetic 


Ayres 


Woody 


Speed 


Addition 


Quality 


Subtraction 


Spelling 


Multiplication 


Ayres 


Division 


Geography 


Monroe 


Hahn-Lackey 


Diagnostic Tests 


Reading 


Clapp 


Monroe 


Problems 


Speed 


Language 


Comprehension 


Trabue 


Haggerty 


Completion B. C. 


Test I 


Clapp 


Test II 


Correct English 


Thorndike 


Charters 


Sentence 


Verbs 


Vocabulary 


Pronouns 



These tests will not be described, since most of them are 
well known. 

Since it seems desirable to make all comparisons with the 
standard medians^ in. the same terms, the percentage method 
was used. The following illustrations will make this method 
clear : 



* In connection with the Thorndike Visual Vocabulary Test and the 
Charters Language Tests no standards were available. Consequently 
these tests were omitted from Table 1, but in determining percentages 
for individual pupils the median for the room was used in the place of a 
standard median. 



8 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

(a) A certain pupil in a sixth-grade room made a score of 
18 (problems solved correctly) on Woody's Multiplication 
Scale. The standard median for sixth grades in this test is 
15. The pupil's score is 120 per cent of the standard median 
score for his grade. We may say he surpassed the standard 
by 20 per cent. 

(b) The sixth-grade room in the West Side School made 
the records given below, v^ith each of which is given the cor- 
responding standard median : 



Test 



Class 
Median 



Standard 
Median 



Percentage 

class median 

is of standard 

median 



Writing 

Speed 

Quality 

Spelling 

Geography 

Beading 

Speed 

Comprehension . 
Sentence 

Arithmetic 

Addition 

Subtraction 

Multiplication . 

Division 

Problems 

Language 

Completion B 

Completion C— 
Correct English- 
Total 



54.1 

44.6 
91.9 
82.3 

99.2 
21.7 

6.08 

15.2 
13.2 
14.8 
11.8 
70.5 

14.6 
14.4 

70.2 



624.58 



71 
54 
79 
78 

92 
21 
6.5 

16 
12 
15 

10 
63.6 

12.4 
12.4 
71.1 



76 

82 

116 

112 

107 

105 

93 

95 
110 

98 
118 
110 

117 

116 
98 



609.0 



102.3== 



Percentages for the following were determined by the meth- 
ods illustrated above: (1) For each pupil in each test; (2) 
for each room in each test; (3) for each building in each sub- 
ject; (4) for the entire system in each subject; and (5) for 
the entire system in all subjects taken together.^ 

The use made of the percentages for individual pupils is 
explained on page 28. The other percentages appear in Table 
1, page 10. It is to be noted in this table that those percentages 

' This is not the average of the percentages above, but is obtained by 
dividing the sum of the class medians by the sum of the standard 
medians. 

^ In calculating these percentages, use was made of Crelle's Rechentafeln 
which greatly reduced the amount of labor involved. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 9 

which indicate results in an entire building or for the system 
as a whole are not averages of preceding percentages, but each 
one is built up as explained in "b" above. 

General Results of Tests 

A school system even though small is complex, and it is 
practically impossible for any single individual or group of in- 
dividuals to secure accurate information concerning its strong 
and weak points by general inspection. The use of the tests 
listed above and the determination of percentages as explained 
made possible the "picture" of conditions in the system which 
is presented in Table 1. 

It is obvious from the explanation in "(b)" above that if 
the class median for a room is equal to the standard median, 
the percentage in Table 1 would be 100. Consequently, we 
may say that in those cases where the percentage is less than 
100 the work is below average and needs to be given addi- 
tional attention. 

The percentages at the extreme right of the table are for the 
entire system. The one for all subjects, 103, is very gratify- 
ing to those responsible for the work of the school, since it may 
be said that as a whole the school is 3 per cent above the aver- 
age. Noting the percentages for the six subjects, we find the 
one for writing to be conspicuously low — 86 per cent. 

Table 1 was reproduced in the form of a large chart with 
each percentage which was lower than 100 appearing in red. 
Soon after the opening of school the following year Superin- 
tendent Anderson displayed the chart to his teachers and to- 
gether they discussed the weak points of the school as revealed 
by the tests. 

Since writing stood out as demanding attention primarily, 
conferences were held, with the result that early in October 
the following circular was issued: 

STOUGHTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

October 7, 1920. 
Teachers: 

What shall we do to improve the quality and speed of handwriting 
of our pupils? 

1. We ourselves should learn to use the system we are teaching. 

2. We should set higher standards for written work. Writing 



10 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



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Spelling (Ayres)... 

Geography 

Hahn-Lackey ... 

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Speed (Monroe). 
Comprehension 

Monroe 

Sentences 

Thorndike 

Directions 

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Arithmetic 

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Subtraction 

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Multiplication 

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Clapp 

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Completion 
Trabue— Scale 

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Completion 
Trabue— Scale 



Miscellaneous 
Clapp 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 11 

functions only as we use it. That means that it functions in arith- 
metic, spelling, written English, etc. \ 

Two sets of arithmetic papers written by a second grade class are } 

now before me. The first set shows an utter lack of standards. 
Problems are scrawled all over the paper. Some numbers are re- 
versed. Some pupils started in the upper left hand corner and 
arrived at the lower right hand corner by working diagonally 
across the page. Every standard of form has been broken. 

The second set of papers were written by the same class one day , 

later. The teacher had given the pupils some very definite instruc- 
tions regarding the arrangement of their papers. She corrected 
some faulty letter formations. The result was astonishing. One 
can scarcely believe that the same pupils have prepared the two 
sets of papers. The teacher had set a standard and the pupils had 
risen to the occasion. If you do not set a high standard of form 
for written work, and require all work to conform to that standard 
you will get slovenly prepared papers. This has an important bear- 
ing upon writing, for writing is a form subject. 

We should supervise as much as possible of the writing done by 
pupils. Writing is a habit involving manual skill. This habit must 
be developed in the same manner as any other such habit — through 
the application of the principles of efficient learning. The forming 
of such a habit is dependent upon: (A) Correct form, and (B) 
Proper execution of the movement. 

A. Correct form involves: 

1. Penholding. 

2. Position of the arm and hand that does the writing. 

3. Position of the other arm and hand. 

B. Learning to execute the movement is accomplished by the trial 

and success method. 
Certain conditions involved in this are under the control of the teacher. 

1. There must be many repetitions of the right kind. 

2. The pupil must give a high degree of attention to his work. 
Improvement will not take place otherwise. 

3. The right kind of motives should be given the children. They 
should be conscious of the problem before them. They should 
know what defects need to be overcome. They should be able 
to measure the progress they are making by some objective 
standard. You have been given an "analysis of defects" 
sheet. Explain this to your pupils. Use it in commenting 
upon their writing. Show them how to discover their own 
writing defects, such as letter formation, poor spacing, lack 
of uniformity in slant and in alignment, etc. 

4. A child can very much better imitate the process of perform' 
ing an act than the result of the act after it has been com- 
pleted. Therefore it is more valuable for the child to see 
the teacher writing than it is to see correct form in a copy 
book. 



12 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



This was followed by a rather detailed discussion of certain 
principles that should determine procedure in teaching pupils 
to write and the circular closes with the following: 

The Unit Plan of Penmanship Practice. 

A. Problem. 

1. In every room above the third grade there are at least three dis- 
tinct groups of writers, — the good, the mediocre, and the poor. 

2. The needs of these three are as varied as the needs of a class in 
reading. 

3. Where the teacher adapts her instruction to the needs of any- 
one class, the others suffer. 

B, Remedy. 

1. Organize according to their needs in writing three groups In 
every room, — the poor, the mediocre, the good. 

2. Form three adjacent class rooms into a writing unit (two or 
four may be used when necessary). Have all the poor pupils go into 
one room, all the mediocre into a second room, and the good into 
the third room. 

3. Once each six weeks promote pupils from one group to the other. 

4. Promote the best writers of the highest group to the lowest 
room of the unit and allow them to use the writing period for the 
study of other subjects or as "helpers" for the elementary group. 

5. The writing of the pupils in the exempted group must keep up 
to a standard or they must return to the writing group again. 



The Significance of the Percentages in Table 1 

The percentage for Reading, 117, is the highest of those for 
the various subjects in Table 1. This was doubtless due to the 
fact that special attention had been given to this subject for 
some time. Miss Elda Merton had been employed for one 
year as supervisor and had given special attention to reading. 
Together with Superintendent Anderson she had made care- 
ful studies of the work of pupils and had suggested to teach- 
ers many remedial and constructive measures.'* 

In connection with such percentages as those under discus- 
sion, it is evident that even though the percentage is equal to 
or greater than 100, a school is not justified in lessening its 
attention to the subject. Such percentage means simply that 
the work in the subject is as good as, or better than, that found 
in schools in general and obviously may still be improved. It 
must be remembered in this connection, however, that stand- 



*For a report of this work see the Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, 
685ff, May, 1920 and 772ff, June, 1920. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 13 

ard medians are not averages of class medians from various 
schools, but are the medians of individual pupil-scores from 
various schools. Consequently, while we may say that the 
percentage of 117 in Reading, for example, means that the 
work in this subject is 17 per cent above average, it is very 
likely true that one would find but few schools, anywhere, with 
a higher percentage. Until average or mean variations (above 
and below 100 per cent) have been determined for schools in 
general, we cannot state the exact significance of the 117 per 
cent for Reading. In general it seems safe to say that where 
such percentages approximate 100 the condition is a cause for 
congratulation, but it still could and should be improved— how 
much cannot be specified. 

With this understanding, attention was given to the various 
subjects in the light of general conditions set forth in Table 1 
and according to more detailed conditions as described in 
the section on "Individual Rooms and Pupils" page 25. Con- 
ferences were held with the teaching group as a whole and a 
general policy based upon conditions and underlying principles 
was emphasized as in the case of writing. 

The Classification of Pupils Tested 

The gradation of pupils or their classification into groups of 
somewhat the same scholastic advancement is one of the diffi- 
cult problems in any school. 

In order to determine to what extent pupils in the school 
were properly classified a careful analysis of the test results 
was undertaken. In the determination of a method for this 
study, certain fundamental considerations appeared at once. 
Among the most important of these were: (1) Relatively few 
tests were used in the three lower grades ; (2) since a pupil 
may be graded either too hi^h or too low, both the first and 
the eighth grade should be omitted; (3) certain subjects are 
much more significant for classification than are others. These 
and other considerations prompted the adoption oi the follow- 
ing rules for the study: 

1. Include grades 4, 5, 6 and 7 only. 

2. Classify no lower than fourth-grade,— no lower than fifth-grade 
■where a test was not used below that grade. 



14 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

8. Compare each pupil's scores with the medians for his building 
rather than with standard medians. 

4. Keep the data for each building separate. 

5. Consider Reading, Arithmetic, and Language only. 

In classifying a pupil he was recognized as being in the 
proper grade if his score on a test fell between the 75 per- 
centile for the grade below and the 25 percentile for the grade 
above.° If a fifth-grade pupil, for instance, made a score be- 
low the 75 percentile for the fourth grade in his building he 
was ranked in the fourth grade for that test. In the same way, 
if he made a score above the 25 percentile for the sixth grade, 
he was classed as a sixth-grade pupil, etc. 

Table 2 shows the results of such a classification in a fifth 
grade of the Central School. The numbers refer to individual 
pupils, thus enabling their identification. In determining the 
final classification in a subject the average of all rankings was 
taken. While this method is open to criticism it seemed as 
good as any other. It should be added, that in finding the 
averages, fractions, as a rule, were dropped or counted as one, 
according to which method would locate the pupil nearer the 
grade in which he was regularly classified. 

In Table 2 there are 66 classifications by subjects.'' 
Of these, 31, or 47 per cent, correspond to the grade in which 
the pupil is located; 19, or 29 per cent, are lower than this 
grade; and 16, or 24 per cent, are higher. Of the last group, 
8 are one grade higher than the one in which the pupils are 
found; 6 are classed two grades higher; and 2 are three grades 
higher. Taking the combined rankings in the three subjects 
we have showings for 23 pupils. Of these 13, or 57 per cent, 
are properly classified; 5, or 22 per cent, are classed beyond 
their ability by one grade ; and 4, or 21 per cent, are classed 
one or two grades below their real scholastic advancement. 

Similar tables were prepared for all the rooms containing 
grades from four to seven, inclusive. While the percentages 
in some rooms varied greatly from those given above, in gen- 
eral they corresponded very closely so that it may be said with 
all confidence that while one-half of the pupils are properly 

'See any book on statistics for explanation of these terms, e. g.. King's 
Elements of Statistics. 

• No rankings were made where it appeared that the pupil had taken 
an insufficient number of tests to justify classification. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 15 



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16 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



graded, at least one-fourth are graded too low and one-fourth 
too high. 

An extreme variation from the percentages given above is 
found in the case of the sixth grade in the West Side School 
where of 30 pupils 12, or 40 per cent, were properly classi- 
fied; 14, or 47 per cent, were classified too high, and 4, or 13 
per cent, were classified too low. 

Another point of significance in Table 2 is the consistency of 
the showings of pupils in the three subjects. Of the 23 pupils 
9 are classed in the same grade in all three subjects ; 8 in two 
subjects; and 6 have a different classification in each subject. 
Similar showings were found in the other grades. 

The findings just set forth will be no surprise to those who 
have made even a cursory study of the scholastic ability of 
pupils in a single grade. The widely varying abilities of their 
pupils were well known to the Stoughton superintendent and 
his teachers and they had been for some time following a pol- 
icy of promoting pupils by subjects, sending them into a lower 
grade for special work, and dividing the pupils in a single 
grade into groups according to their ability. The showing in 
connection with standard tests throughout the school not only 
justifies this policy, but would seem to indicate that it might 
be followed more extensively. 

Boys and Girls Compared 



The question of the relative ability of boys and girls often 
comes up in school work, especially in connection with the 
problem of interest in different subjects. Although the bear- 
ing of information concerning this question upon the prac- 
tical conduct of the school was not obvious, as a matter of in- 
terest the scores of the girls and of the boys were compared. 

Obviously, in comparing any two sets of scores many dif- 
ferent methods may be used and the conclusions drawn would 
not necessarily be the same in connection with the different 
methods. In making the comparison between boys and girls, 
it seemed reasonable to employ a method which would give 
answers to the following questions: (1) Of the scores made 
by each sex, what percentage was found to be higher than the 
integral group in which the median for the room fell? (2) 
What percentage was below this group? (3) What percentage 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 17 



was found in this group ? (4) Of all the scores made by each 
sex, what percentage was in the "highest-in-the-room" group ? 
(5) Of all the scores made by each sex, what percentage was 
in the "lowest-in-the-room" group? 

In tabulating the data each test and each room were con- 
sidered separately. Only the tests in Reading, Arithmetic, and 
Language were included. The scores above the median in- 
tegral group which belonged to girls were counted as were 
those which belonged to boys. The same was done for those 
below the median group and those in this group. The cases 
where the highest score in a room was made by a girl were 
counted and the same for boys. In the same way the lowest 
scores belonging to each sex were counted. When the scores 
in each of these ten groups were totaled and percentages found, 
Table 3 resulted. 

In all, 5,223 marks are included in this table, of which 
2,959 belong to girls and 2,264 to boys. 

On the whole the advantage is with the girls. In the three 
subjects taken together 45 per cent of the girls' scores are 
above the median group, while only 38 per cent of those be- 
longing to the boys are equally high. Below the mid-group 
we find only 39 per cent of the girls' scores, but 44 per cent of 
the boys'. Of all the scores belonging to girls 9 per cent were 
in the "highest-in-the-room" group, while the corresponding 
percentage for boys is 6. The "lowest-in-the-room" scores 
show the same relative ability, where we find 5 per cent of the 
girls' marks, but 7 per cent of the boys'. 

The total differences indicated above are due to Language 
more than to either of the other two subjects. In Arithmetic 
the boys almost hold their own. Five tests were used in this 
subject, vis., Woody's scales for each of the processes and 
Clapp's problem test. It is interesting to note that in the latter 
test, where reasoning is involved, only 40 per cent of the girls' 
marks were above the median group as compared with 50 per 
cent of the boys'. Below the median group were found 43 per 
cent for the girls as compared with 38 per cent for the boys. 



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18 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



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STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 19 



Diagnosis of Work in Reading 



No particular purpose would be served by reporting in de- 
tail the results of the reading tests in the various rooms, hence 
such data are omitted. 

Very definite efforts were made to analyze the papers of 
pupils in the various tests so that some basis or bases for 
remedial or advanced work might be suggested. Although the 
results were not what the importance of reading in general 
would demand in the way of diagnosis, they are reported in 
part, with the hope that the methods used may prompt others 
to undertake work of this kind which may be more successful. 

In connection with Monroe's tests an attempt was made to 
classify the errors made by pupils with the view of ascertaining 
what types of errors were made most often. It was found 
that the exercises could be arranged in five groups, and the 
study was made on that basis. 

The first thing that suggested itself in looking for types of 
exercises was that in certain exercises the answer was to be 
indicated in a particular manner, by underscoring a word or 
drawing a line around it — all such exercises are included in 
Group I. Such exercises as the one about the relative weight 
of oil, milk, and water (No. 1, Test II) require the power to 
reason and to indicate the conclusion by answering a direct 
question — these are classified as Group II. There are certain 
exercises, e. g., No. 1 in Test I, where the correct answer is 
found in the words of the exercise and is to be indicated by. 
answering a direct question — these form Group III. The next 
group is made up of a half dozen exercises, illustrated by No. 
11 in Test II in which the pupil is to choose from a suggested 
list the word that expresses the idea of the exercise. The 
last group contains the five exercises that involve reasoning 
and the necessity of indicating the conclusion by choosing be- 
tween two alternatives as illustrated in No. 9, Test II — "if dry, 
draw a line under air ; if wet, draw a line under rain." It will 
readily be seen that Group I overlaps the other four. 

The five groups are as follows: 

I. Indicating the answer in a particular manner: 

Test I. Ex. 11, 12, 13, 15, 16. 

Test II. Ex. 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14. 



20 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



II. Reasoning and indicating conclusion by answering a 
question : 

Test I. Ex. 3, 7, 10, 13. 
Test II. Ex. 1, 4, 5, 7, 

III. Finding answer in words of the exercise and answering 
a direct question : 

Test I. Ex. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 14. 
Test II. Ex. 2, 3, 6. 

IV. Choosing from a suggested Hst the word that expresses 
the idea of the exercise : 

Test I. Ex. 15. 

Test II. Ex. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 

V. Reasoning and indicating answer by choosing between 
two alternatives : 

Test I. Ex. 11, 12, 16. 
Test II. Ex. 8, 9. 

A list of the errors made by all the pupils in the four upper 
grades and about half of those in grades 3 and 4, 402 pupils in 
all, was made. The number of pupils who attempted each ex- 
ercise was recorded also so that the per cent of errors could 
be calculated. The errors were classified according to the 
groups described above, and the ratio of the number of errors 
to the number of attempts was expressed in per cents. The 
results are given below : 

TABLE 4 

Showing Percentages of Errors Made in Connection with Various 
Types of Exercises in Monroe's Reading Test. 





. 


Per cent of 


Group 


Attempts 


attempts wrong 


I 


1559 


4.7 


II 


1513 


10.4 


III 


1779 


11.0 


IV 


670 


14.3 


V 


639 


23.0 



The above analysis seems to indicate that after pupils have 
become accustomed to tests of this kind (as was the case with 
these pupils), the errors in Group I are negligible. In many 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 21 

cases where this type of error occurred the wrong answer was 
indicated also. 

It is doubtless true that abilities required by Groups II and 
V have much in common, and drill for one will improve the 
other also. The large percentage of errcis in Group V indi- 
cates that the pupils need drill in the power of concentration — 
the power to hold three or more ideas in mind at the same 
time for the purpose of comparing them. Material for such 
drill might be found in problems in arithmetic, in texts in 
hygiene, history, and geography, in rules for playing games, 
and in instructions for work in manual arts and home eco- 
nomics. 

Exercises in expressing the meaning of a whole paragraph 
in one word, or the thought of a page in a single sentence, 
would be valuable drill to improve the type of reading ability 
required by the exercises in Group IV. 

To be most helpful such a study as this should be made for 
each room, or, better still, for individual pupils. 

The papers in Thorndike's Scale Alpha 2, Parts I and II, 
were analyzed with a view to seeing what kinds of interpreta- 
tions were most difficult for the pupils. The following classi- 
fication was made of the exercises : 



Part I. 






I. 


Finding answers in paragraph: 




Set I. 


Questions 1, 2, 3. 




Set II. 


Questions 1, 2, 3, 4. 




Set HI. 


Questions 1, 2, 3, 7. 




Set IV. 


Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 


II. 


Reasoning: 






Set III. 


Questions 5,6. 




Set IV. 


Question 7. 


III. 


Following directions and observing carefully 




Set III. 


Question 4. 


Part II. 




I. 


Finding answer in paragraph: 




Set IV. 


Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 




Set V. 


Questions 1, 2, 3, 7. 




Set VI. 


Questions 1, 2, 3. 


II. 


Reasoning: 






Set IV. 


Question 1. 




Set V. 


Question 8. 




Set VI. 


Question 4. 




Set VII. 


Questions I, 2, 3, 4, 5. 



22 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



h 



III. Following directions and observing carefully: 
Set V. Question 4. 

ly. Summarizing the paragra]>3i: 
Set V. Questions 5, 6, 

Doubtless, many would not agree with the above classifica- 
tion. It will be noticed that an exercise is classed as a reason- 
ing exercise even though it may involve nothing more than the 
translation of certain words in the paragraph into other words, 
e. g., Question 1, Set VII, Part 11, No attempt is made to 
justify the classification, but it was thought to be reasonably 
fair. 

The work of pupils in Grades 4, 5, and 6, in connection with 
Part 1 of the test was analyzed and that of Grades 7 and 8 in 
connection with Part II. Table 5 shows the results of 
this analysis: 

TABLE 5 



Showing the Percentages of Ereob in 
Vabious Types op Exercises in 



Connection With 
Thobndike's 





Reading Scale, Alpha 2. 






Type of 
exercise 


Grades 4, 


5, 6 




Grades 7 


8 


Pupils 


Answers 


Per cent 
wrong 


Pupils 


Answers 


Per cent 
wrong 


Answer in 
paragraph 

Reasoning 

rollowing 
directions 

Summarizing 


264 
264 

264 


448.0 
792 

264 


18 

28 

21 


163 
163 

163 
163 


1956 
1304 

163 
163 


26 
60 

60 
41 











Table 5 shows conclusively that the difficult kind of inter- 
pretation for pupils in the school is that which involves simple 
reasoning or the drawing of inferences. This is not surpris- 
ing when it is remembered that practically all of the reading 
material which is put into the hands of pupils requires simply 
that they "find the answer in the paragraph," The study above 
at least raises the question as to whether or not material re- 
quiring more concentrated attention and more frequent oppor- 
tunities for tested judgment should not be introduced into the 
school. 

There were found in the reading material in the school, and 
especially that used in a supplementary way, many selections 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 23 

that might be classed as of the "informational-story" type. 
These are stories which attempt, e. g., to depict the lives of 
primitive peoples by wrapping up in a story of a boy of primi- 
tive times, the manners and customs of his time, or to make 
clear a scientific truth or event by narrating an incident con- 
cerning some object in nature which was affected by the truth 
or concerned in the event. 

As a test of the pupils' ability to interpret material of this 
sort the following story was paraphrased from a poem and 
used as material for a test in Grades 6, 7, and 8: 

A STORY 

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so many, in fact, that none 
of us can tell how many, somewhere in a valley, there grew a fern, 
delicate, green, and slender. When the breezes crept down under 
the trees, they waved the fern gracefully about. Now and then a 
playful sunbeam darted through the leaves and found the fern; 
and at night drops of dew stole silently in and made a glistening 
crown upon its head. 

There were no children to find the fern for it was so long ago 
there were no children. Great fishes swam in the sea, and on the 
plains and in the forests there were animals of wondrous shapes and 
enormous size. Even the trees grew larger than man has ever seen. 
The little fern, however, grew in its own sweet way, spread its leaves, 
and became more beautiful every day. 

Suddenly one day the earth heaved up mighty rocks and threw 
them all about. The ocean broke loose and flowed over the land. It 
drowned the animals and tore up the great trees. The little fern 
was buried deep in the moist clay. 

Many centuries passed by and the soft clay that clasped the fern 
hardened into stone. Then one day a thoughtful man who studied 
nature's secrets wandered into a valley. He studied the flowers; he 
listened to the birds; he watched the fishes at their play. As he 
walked, he saw, lying in his path, a queer little rock. When he 
looked more closely he saw upon the rock a strange design as if 
some fairy had traced with magic pencil the picture of the little fern. 

Is it not wonderful that a thing so delicate as the fern could be 
kept so that after thousands of years man could find it and under- 
stand its history? If one looks closely he may often find "pictures" 
of plants on stone as this man did. 

The following questions were asked in written form: 

1. What title would you suggest for the story? 

2. What question do you think the story is intended to 
answer ? 



24 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

3. What part could be omitted and still leave the meaning 
clear ? 

The guiding purpose in selecting the questions above was to 
ascertain whether or not the pupils in any way grasped the 
idea that the story was intended to tell them how fossils are 
formed. In determining the number of correct interpretations 
credit was given in connection with any one or more of the 
questions, just so there was any evidence anywhere of an un- 
derstanding of the story. A pupil may have written for No. 1, 
"How fossils are formed," and omitted the other two; or he 
may have omitted No. 1 and in connection with No. 2, said 
"How do pictures get on stone?" Any one of such answers 
gave him full credit for a correct interpretation. 

The following percentages indicate the correct interpreta- 
tions for the three grades : Grade 6, 2 per cent ; Grade 7, 14 
per cent; and Grade 8, 13 per cent. 

These percentages are extremely low. The writer would 
not suggest any final conclusion from this simple test, but he 
would suggest that some very careful attention be given to the 
interpretations placed by pupils upon such material. If its 
correct understanding is impossible when the pupil works 
alone, it would seem that such stories should be studied in class 
or supplanted by other material. 



SECTION II 

INDIVIDUAL ROOMS AND PUPILS 

The Responsibility of the Teacher 

One of the common objections to standard tests on the part 
of teachers is that they are not a full measure of their work 
and yet are liable to be so interpreted. Without any doubt the 
responsibility of a teacher for the showing made by her class 
on a test has been overrated in many instances. Information 
such as that presented in Table 1 has been interpreted as being 
a direct comparison of the efficiency of teachers. 

Even momentary consideration would seem to force the 
conclusion that such an interpretation cannot be put upon the 
table. The education of a pupil in a public school is a matter 
of cooperative and cumulative effort. What a fifth-grade 
pupil, e. g., knows or does not know is not chargeable to the 
account of his fifth-grade teacher, but in large part to the joint 
account of this teacher and those that have taught the pupil 
in preceding grades. In the first grade there is the difficulty 
of devising tests that constitute any adequate measure of the 
work of teachers since the methods used vary so widely. For 
example, one teacher emphasizes methods that arouse interest 
in subject matter in reading, while another emphasizes word 
drill, and still another the correct interpretation of subject 
matter. All of these methods have the same ultimate purpose, 
but the ability of pupils in two rooms as measured by a single 
test at the end of the year may vary widely while the same two 
groups at the end of the second or third year may be practical- 
ly equal. A conspicuous example of wide variation in first 
grades is found in Table 1 in the case of the Haggerty tests 
for reading. 

The statements in the preceding paragraph are not intended 
to absolve the teacher from all responsibility for the showings 
of her pupils. She is one of the factors that has produced the 
showing and as such should feel her due share of concern. 

Presumably, standard tests constitute a measure of the abil- 



26 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



ity of a school in connection with the fundamentals of the va- 
rious subjects. Without any question, one duty of the school 
is to develop such ability on the part of each pupil. It is not ] 
possible, or desirable, to develop this ability to exactly the ', 
same degree in the case of each pupil, but a school should be 
reasonably sure when its pupils leave the eighth grade that 
they are fairly familiar with the essential elements of the va- 
rious subjects. 

The ability of a school to do this is dependent upon many 
elements, e. g., previous work of its pupils in schools from 
which they have been transferred, regularity of attendance, 
the choice of methods of instruction and textbooks, and the 
native ability of pupils. 

Each of these factors and many other minor ones play parts 
in creating conditions such as those set forth in the section on 
the classification of pupils, particularly in Table 2. 

For various reasons a pupil cannot always be placed in 
the room or grade in which the work as a whole best suits his 
individual scholastic needs. So far as concerns the essentials 
of a subject one pupil in a sixth-grade room, e. g., may need 
the work ordinarily given in the fourth grade, while another 
pupil may easily take up the work of the seventh grade. Not 
only is this true, but it often happens that in connection with 
the essentials of a subject one room, as a whole, will exceed 
another of a higher grade. 

All this means that a teacher has before her the task of not 
simply following the outline of work for her grade, but of 
ascertaining where her room as a whole and where each indi- 
vidual pupil stands in the line of progress towards the mas- 
tery of the fundamentals in the various subjects. 

Obviously, then, it is not sufficient that those responsible for 
the school know simply how the school as a whole stands in 
the various subjects, but they should know also how each room 
and each pupil stands. The more detailed this information 
the more effective may be the work of each teacher, and conse- 
quently, of the school as a whole in conducting remedial as 
well as advanced work. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 27 

Plan for Reporting Results to Teachers and Pupils 

In order to set forth as fully as possible such information as 
the above, a detailed analysis of the work in the different rooms 
and of that of individual pupils was undertaken. The meth- 
ods used in this analysis and typical results are presented next. 

In the beginning of the survey each pupil in a room was 
given a number which he retained throughout the entire work.'^ 
As the tests were completed and the papers scored the results 
in each room were presented as in Table 6. In this table the 
numbers on the base line indicated values or scores and the 
numbers above refer to individual pupils, e. g., pupils No. 15 
and 16 each made a score of 44. 

TABLE 6 

Showing How the Restji-ts of Tests Were Reported to Teachers. 

(Sixth Grade West Side School.) Numbers on the Base Line 

Indicate Scores and Those Above Indicate Individual Pupils. 



Arithmetic — Clapp's Test 

Standard median 63.6 

Class median 70.5 


38 
23 
34 
19 
4 


30 
17 

7 
1 


18 
20 


6 
3 

24 


32 

22 
8 
5 


14 


9 




16 21 
2 15 26 10 


11 


32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 


64 


68 


72 


76 


80 


84 


88 


100 



The results of all the tests used in a room were arranged as 
indicated above on a single large sheet of cardboard and be- 
came the property of the teacher after being explained to the 
pupils by her. On this card the standing of any pupil in a 
number of tests (18 in the case of sixth-grade pupils) could 
easily be found and the showings of the class compared with 
the standard medians. 

One of the many difficulties in connection with the super- 
vision of schools is for the supervisor to secure, or if once 
secured, to retain in convenient form adequate records of the 
work of individual pupils. Yet the progress which pupils 
make under a teacher's instruction is the one and only test of 
that teacher's instructional skill, and if the supervisor is to be 
the judge of the teacher's success it would seem that complete 
records of each pupil's progress should be available. 

^ Girls were griven even numbers and boys odd. ■ 



28 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



After all, however, the mere evaluation of a teacher's work 
by a supervisor is of relatively small consequence when com- 
pared with the help which may be extended to the teacher 
when both the supervisor and teacher have in mind a scholastic 
"picture" of each child in the room. 

Since so many objective tests were being used in the survey, 
it seemed that advantage should be taken of the opportunity to 
prepare simple records for individual pupils which could be 
filed for ready reference by teachers and supervisor. 

In choosing terms and devising a form for such records the 
following considerations appeared : ( 1 ) The record should 
be graphic and yet fairly definite; (2) the measures of the 
pupil's work should be expressed in common terms — common 
for all pupils and for all subjects; (3) the form should afford 
room for records during the following years. 

The above and other minor considerations gave rise to the 
form on the opposite page, which has been filled out for a 
seventh-grade pupil. 

The common standard to which all records of a pupil are 
referred in using the above form is the standard median for 
his grade in the various tests. This median is represented by 
the heavy black line passing horizontally through the middle of 
the lower part of the card and which is marked "ICX)" at the 
left. A record on any test is expressed by locating a small 
circle above or below this line according as the record is more 
or less than 100 per cent of the standard for the pupil's grade. 
Finally these circles are all connected by a continuous line 
which enables a ready comparison with the standard line. The 
form on page 29 contains the actual record of a seventh-grade 
pupil and is to be interpreted as follows. The pupil's age is 105 
per cent of the normal age for his grade. In speed of writing he 
exceeded the standard for his grade by almost 20 per cent. 
In quality of writing his score was less than 90 per cent of the 
standard score for his grade, etc. 

Records for the following year may be entered in red ink 
or the circles connected by a broken line. During this year 
the pupil will be in a higher grade and, of course, is expected 
to reach higher standards, but these standards would still be 
represented by the same 100 per cent line. 



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'standard tests AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 31 



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tive pronoun 

"did" as past of do , 

"have" indicating obligation 

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"were" as subjunctive 

"lie" to recline 

"eaten" as perfect of eat 

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"were" as past with "you" in ques- 
tion 

"ly" as adverbial ending 

"knew" as past of know 

Quotation marks before quotation. 

"sit" to rest 

Period after abbreviation 

Comma before a quotation 

Quotation marks ending quotation- 
Apostrophe in ellipsis 

"could" with hardly 

"he" as subject instead of "him" 

when verb is omitted 

Capital beginning quotation 

"used" instead of "use" or "ust" 

Sequence of tense 

"me" as object pronoun 

^Apostrophe before "s" when plural 

does not end in "s" 

Omission of "got" with have 

Apostrophe for possession when 
plural ends in "s" 

7 "Your" modifying gerund 



\ 



32 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



Such cards were filled out for each pupil from Grade 1 to 8, 
inclusive. 



Method of Diagnosing a Language Showing 

After knowing how her room compares with the standard 
and what the score of each pupil is a teacher can more eflfec- 
tively adapt her instruction to the needs of a class if she knows 
the points on which the class as a whole and each individual 
pupil are weak. 

To afford this information the points in each test were listed 
and the success or failure of each pupil in connection with 
each point indicated. This phase of the" work is illustrated in 
Table 7, which concerns the pupils in the sixth grade of the 
West Side School and has to do with Clapp's test for Correct 
English. Numbers at the top indicate individual pupils and 
the checks indicate errors or omissions. 

In Table 7 the tabulation has been rearranged from 
the original in order to show the percentages of success on 
the various points for the class as a whole in decreasing order. 
It is to be noted that these percentages vary from 100 for live 
of the points in the test to 8 for two of them. Just where in 
the list the teacher should begin drill for the entire class is 
perhaps a matter for her to decide. Since this test is intended 
as a measure of language habits rather than of language knowl- 
edge, it was suggested that it would perhaps not be a mistake 
for the teacher to drill the class on all points where the per- 
centage was less than 75. Above this point drill could be in- 
dividual and its character determined according to the errors 
made by each pupil. 

Early in the beginning of the next year these tabulations 
from all the rooms together with the other language work of 
pupils in connection with the survey were used in outlining 
the work in language. 

Diagnosing a Showing in Arithmetic 

In analyzing the work in Arithmetic, attention was given to 
Woody's Arithmetic Scales and Clapp's Upper Grade Arith- 
metic — a problem test. Monroe's Diagnostic Tests were used 
in the survey, but their tabulation and analysis proved to be 
too laborious for use in connection with the entire school. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 33 

In presenting this feature of the work a single fifth grade 
only will be used to represent the plan in general. This will 
be followed by a description of a special use of the results 
from all sixth and seventh-grade pupils. 

Tables 8 and 9 show the method of tabulation employed. 
The problems are given in order to make clear the basis for 
the suggestions which follow the tables. Since the methods 
used in connection with each of the Woody scales, addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, and division, were the same, only 
the material relating to one of these, addition, will be given. 
The scale is reproduced below : 



Series B 
ADDITION SCALE 
By Clifford Woody 

Date 

City County School 

Name When is your next birthday? . 

How old will you be Are you a boy or girl? 

In what grade are you? Teacher's name 



(1) 

2 
3 


(2) 

2 
4 
3 




(3) 

17 

2 


(5) 

72 
26 




(7) 

3 + 1 = 


(10) 

21 
33 
35 


(13) 

23 
25 
16 


(14) 

25 + 42 = 




( 


:i6) 

9 
24 
12 
15 
19 


(10) 

$ .75 

1.25 

.49 


(20) 

$12.50 
16.75 
15.75 






(21) 
$8.00 
5.75 
2.33 
4.16 
.94 
6.32 




(22) 
547 
197 
685 
678 
456 
393 
525 
240 
152 




(23) 
% + ^i^ 


■ 


(24) 
4.0125 
L5907 
4.10 
8.673 


(30) 

2% 
6% 
3% 







T 



34 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



(33) 


(36) 


.49 


2 yr. 5 mo. 


.28 


3 yr. 6 mo. 


.63 


4 yr. 9 mo. 


.95 


5 yr. 2 mo. 


1.69 


6 yr. 7 mo. 


.22 






.33 




.36 




1.01 




.56 




.88 




.75 




.56 




1.10 




.18 




.56 





(38) 

25.091+100.4+25+98.28+19.3614 = 



In determining the suggestions for the various classes in 
connection with the tests, only those problems were considered 
which might reasonably be considered to be within the ability 
of the class as indicated approximately by the class median. 
For example, in connection with the addition test, only the first 
sixteen problems were considered, the median number cor- 
rectly solved by the class being 13.8. On the basis of the show- 
ings in Table 8 the following suggestions were made for the 
work of the coming year: 

1. Special types of problems upon which the class as a 
whole needs drill. 

a. Long-column problems — nine or more digits to the 
column and two or three columns. 

b. Problems in decimals where the addends are to be ar- 
ranged. 

c. Problems involving U. S. money. 

d. Problems involving fractions with denominators of dif- 
ferent value. 

2. New work. 

a. A continuation of the types of problems indicated 
above, but with the individual problems more difficult. 

b. Problems involving mixed numbers with denominators 
of different value. 

c. Problems involving integers and decimals. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 35 



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,'36 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

CLAPP'S TEST FOR UPPER GRADE ARITHMETIC 

1. Mr. Rook had 43 hogs and bought 24 more. How many had he 
then? 

2. A cook buys 57 pounds of potatoes and uses 34 pounds. How 
many are left? 

3. John has 18 cents. How many flags can he buy at 2 cents each? 

4. Robert had 8 stamps on each of 6 pages. How many stamps 
did he have in all? 

5. One platoon of soldiers had 16 men; another had 32 men; and 
a third had 48. How many men were there in all? 

6. Out of a company of soldiers with 95 men, 27 were sick. How 
many were left for duty? 

7. A boy delivered 36 papers each day. How many papers would 
he deliver in 24 days? 

8. A man paid $602 for 86 sheep. How much was that for each 
sheep? 

9. William had 13 rabbits. After he sold 4 and bought 7 more, 
how many did he have? 

10. If 5 sacks of sugar cost $40, how much will 7 sacks cost? 

11. Nellie had 10 pieces of candy. She ate one-half of them, and 
gave three pieces to Susie. How many pieces had she left? 

12. One book weighs 5*/^ pounds and another one 6% pounds. 
How much do they both weigh? 

13. A girl picked 6% gallons of berries one day, '2i^ gallons the 
next, S% gallons the next. How many gallons did she pick alto- 
gether? 

14. A piece of goods contains 8y^ yards. If 5% yards are cut off 
for a dress, how many are left? 

15. How much will 3% tons of coal cost at $9 per ton? 

16. A tank contains 15.5 gallons of gasoline. If 7.25 gallons are 
drawn out, how many are left? 

17. If I can walk 3.5 miles in one hour, how far can I walk in 4.3 
hours ? 

18. If it takes 5.3 ounces of silver to make one medal, how many 
medals can be made from 21.2 ounces? 

19. A man had $2,800. He spent one-half of his money for a house 
and one-fourth of what was left for a horse. How many dollars 
had he left? 

20. A yard is 42 feet long and 38 feet wide. How many square 
feet are there in it? 

21. If I buy a house for $4,800 and gain 20 per cent when I sell it, 
how many dollars do I gain? 

22. A lot is 126 feet long and 63 feet wide. How much will it cost 
to put a fence around it at 40 cents per yard? 

23. What will be the interest on $4,200 for 6 years at 5 per cent? 

24. If I buy a cow for $63 and sell her for $84, what per cent do 
I gain? 

25. A man sells 18 cattle averaging 1,000 pounds in weight at $9.50 
per hundred pounds. How much does he receive for them? 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 37 



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38 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

/ The following suggestions for the class were offered : 
/ (1) Careful attention should be given to the processes in- 
volved in those problems missed, although the right method 
was used. This seems to be a matter of attention to individual 
/ pupils, since these errors are scattered throughout the test. 

/ (2) Concrete problems can hardly be classified by types, but 

I it is suggested that problems involving the same kinds of con- 

V ditions as those in problems frequently misinterpreted be given 

to the class repeatedly for the purpose of interpretation espe- 
cially. Such problems as No. 10 need special emphasis. 
(3) Problems should be stated in dififerent ways. 
Clapp's test lends itself more readily to diagnosis in the_ 
grades above the fifth. 
I Attention was called to the following pupils and the kind of 

\ work in which they were weak indicated : 

'^i No. 5 — written problems. 

No. 3 — subtraction. 
No. 25 — addition. 

No. 27 — all the processes and written problems. 
' ■ No. 19 — addition and multiplication. 

\ No. 18 — written problems. 

No. 13 — all the processes and written problems. 
No. 21 — written problems. 
No. 30 — subtraction. 
No. 10 — division. 

Remedial and Constructive Work in Spelling 

In Spelling, the showing in Table 1 was made in connection 
with twenty-five words from the Ayres list. As a part of the 
survey and as a basis for remedial and constructive work in 
this subject the entire 1,000 words were pronounced in each 
room containing grades above the second and records were 
kept of the work of each pupil. 

As a working device in this connection a book for each room 
was prepared as follows. The 1,000 words were mimeo- 
graphed in columns of 50 words each. These columns were 
then separated and pasted singly at the left of blank sheets of 
paper 11x17 inches. A single book was then made up by tak-j 
ing twenty of these sheets with the words arranged in order of 
difficulty. Pupils in each room then ruled the sheets in both 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 39 

directions and wrote in the name of each pupil at the top. The 
words were pronounced at the rate of 100 per day. Each pupil 
corrected his own work by checking the words missed and 
these checks were then transferred to the book either by pupils 
or by the teacher. These books were to serve as the text in 
Spelling the next year. The plan is for each pupil to learn 
thoroughly the words he missed which are below the 100 per 
cent standard for his grade. The teacher then takes the next 
column of words (on the scale, not in the book) and the class 
studies these words until the median for the class is equal to 
the standard, after which the work is individual and limited 
to those pupils who are not yet up. At frequent intervals all 
of the words preceding the point at which the class is working 
are reviewed in order to be sure that their correct spelling has 
become a matter of habit. 



Grouping of Pupils for Instruction 

Since the pupils from all the sixth grades are gathered into 
the seventh grade of the Junior High School and divided into 
groups according to scholastic ability, a study was made of the 
scores of these pupils in each arithmetic test and a certain 
grouping suggested. The same was done for the pupils in the 
seventh grade. Table 10 shows the number in each of these 
groups together with group medians and standard scores. 
Scores for the lower grades arc added for purposes of com- 
parison. 

The pupils in each of the four groups for Grades 7 and 8 
were reported and it was suggested that classification for the 
work of the following year be made on this basis if possible. 

One of the problems which arise in any high school is the 
proper introduction of freshman students. Many pupils dur- 
ing their first year find themselves misunderstood scholastical- 
ly and unable to do the work which is expected of them. 

In order to protect the weak pupils in the ninth grade as far 
as possible during the coming year the following criterion was 
applied to the scores of the eighth-grade pupils in the various 
tests : How many scores of each pupil fell in the lower two- 
thirds of the first, or lower, quartile for the class? It was 
thought that those pupils whose scores fell in this group any 
considerable number of times in proportion to the total num- 
ber of tests should receive special attention. 



40 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



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STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 41 

Table 11 shows the pupils by number who were placed in 
this group and the number of scores belonging to each in the 
three fundamental subjects which were below the limit indi- 
cated above. 

TABLE 11 

Showing a Grotxp of Eighth-Gkade Pupils Who Were Weak in the 
Three Fundamental Subjects. The numbers indicate the num- 
ber of scores belonging to each pupil which were in the 
lower two-thirds of the first quartile for the grade. 
These pupils should receive special attention in 
their first year of high school work. 



Pupils by 


Reading 


Language 


Arithmetic 


Number 


(3 tests) 


(5 tests) 


(5 tests) 


7 





2 





8 


3 


2 


1 


9 


2 


2 





10 


3 


3 





11 





2 





12 


2 


2 


2 


13 





2 





16 





2 





20 








2 


27 





2 





30 


2 


2 


1 


33 





3 





34 


2 


3 


1 


36 


2 





3 


37 


2 


2 


1 


43 





3 





46 








2 


49 





3 





50 


2 


2 





51 





3 





55 





2 


3 


57 


3 


3 





61 





2 





66 





2 





76 


2 





1 


86 





2 


1 


90 


3 








102 


2 





2 



While in many tests some of the twenty-eight pupils indi- 
cated in the group in the above table do not have scores as low 
as the limit chosen, yet practically all of their scores were low 
and it would seem decidedly advantageous if these pupils could 
be grouped together and their work strengthened in the sub- 
jects indicated, by very direct drill. Their reading could be 



42 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



i 



given attention in connection with language by varying the out- 
line. It was evident in the case of many of these pupils that 
in arithmetic their accuracy in the fundamental processes was 
extremely low and that their sense of problem-situation which 
demanded a choice among addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
and division was not at all well developed. To expect such 
pupils to do strong high school work is expecting altogether too 
much. 

Tests in the High School 

Only a few tests were used in the high school since so few 
are available in satisfactory form and a still smaller number 
lend themselves to diagnostic purposes. The Hotz Algebra 
Scales were used in the ninth grade, the work being limited to 
the equation and formula and the problem scales. 

Tables 12a and 12b indicate the results of these two tests : 

TABLE 12A 

Showing the DiSTraBUTioN of Ninth-Gkade Scores on the Hotz 

Equation and Formula Scale. (Algebra.) Numbers 

on the base line indicate scores, those above 

indicate individual pupils. 





77 87 Standard Median 16.0 




74 82 84 Class Median 12.3 




dfi fi^i fiQ 70 




37 63 68 67 39 




32 52 45 65 83 86 38 




19 40 42 73 29 71 55 35 53 




79 80 81 18 26 33 72 20 27 50 25 76 49 58 44 61 62 


9 


78 64 30 15 17 24 66 16 12 34 10 6 48 57 28 51 60 


4 


7 75 36 21 8 5 22 43 11 3 31 2 1 56 14 23 13 47 54 59 


12 


3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 



Lltt^^ 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 43 



TABLE 12B. 

Showing the Distribution of Ninth-Grade Scores on the Hotz 
Problem Scale. (Algebra). 



92 

10 

12 

91 

90 

87 

77 

5 75 

16 73 

82 71 

81 69 

78 43 



Standard Median- 
Class Median 



.7.5 
.4.9 



15 



89 
63 



7 

8 

9 

85 

66 27 
24 26 



3 2 

70 14 

74 42 67 86 

72 40 65 84 

64 38 58 83 1 

53 36 54 68 80 

37 35 43 62 79 



6 

61 

49 
21 22 25 44 13 48 57 69 

17 20 18 39 56 28 10 51 53 



32 34 29 50 55 

30 33 23 31 47 11 



9 10 11 12 13 14 



One of the most common weaknesses of the work in high 
school mathematics is a failure to teach thoroughly the ele- 
mentary phases such as are embodied in the Hotz scales. 
There is a very determined effort made to cover the ground in 
the entire text, and pupils are hurried along from one subject 
to another, being almost constantly confronted with new phases 
of the subject, with the result that the earlier phases are not 
assimilated as they should be. Those who conducted the tests 
and visited the classes are of the opinion that this is the cause 
of the poor showing in the subject rather than any particular 
weakness on the part of the pupils or the teachers. 

In Latin two vocabulary tests and one sentence test were 
used in each of the first, second, and third years of the work. 
The results appear in Table 13, only the class medians being 
reported since the number of pupils in each class was small : 






44 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



fi? 



TABLE 13 
Showing the Resttlts of Thbee Latin Tests 





First Year 


Second Tear 


Third Tear 




St. 
Med. 


Class 
Med. 


St. 
Med. 


Class 
Med. 


St. 
Med. 


Class 
Med. 


Henmon's Sentence 1 

Henmon's Vocabulary 

Clapp's Vocabulary _ 


10 
71 

86.4 


12 

80.7 
86 


13.8 

84 
97.4 


14 

94 
94 


18.2 

95 

99.8 


19.6 
94.4 
100 







The sum of the class medians in the above table exceeds 
that of the standard medians by 3 per cent, indicating a very 
gratifying quality of work in Latin as measured by the three 
tests. 



SECTION III 

SOME SPECIAL PHASES 

Grade-Pupils' Time 

Amidst all the complexity of school organization, super- 
vision, courses of study, records and reports, finances, sched- 
ules of classes, etc., etc., one thing would seem to be of prime 
importance, viz., the time that pupils devote to the accomplish- 
ment of worth-while tasks. With the introduction of many 
new subjects, with portions of the school time given over to 
matters of health, of thrift, of charity, of celebration, etc., one 
sometimes wonders just what must be the effect upon the indi- 
vidual child's ability to work consistently and upon the teach- 
er's ability to so plan and carry out the work in her room as to 
keep her pupils employed. 

There is no intention in connection with the above statements 
to discourage work of the kind mentioned or to reflect upon 
its value. All of these activities are absolutely meritorious 
and the only question raised is one concerning the time avail- 
able for work by the pupil in the fundamental subjects and the 
effective use of this time. 

The question was studied by an examination of the daily 
programs as found in the various rooms and by detailed rec- 
ords of the activities of three pupils throughout a school day.^ 

There would be little if any advantage in presenting a sum- 
mary of various room programs. The one below is doubtless 
typical, at least in respect to the total amount of time devoted 
to each subject. This is for a fifth grade. 



TABLE 14 

Showing the Dailt Pkogram in a Fifth-Grade Room 

Time Subject Min. 

8:30- 8:40 Opening Exercises 10 

8:40- 9:05 Study Arithmetic 25 

9:05- 9:30 Recite Arithmetic 25 

9:30- 9:35 Calisthenics 5 

• This study did not take into account interruptions in the daily sched- 
ules for the various kinds of work to which reference is made. 



46 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Time Subject Min. 

9:35-10:00 Study Reading 25 

10:00-10:15 Recess 15 

10:15-10:40 Recite Reading 25 

10:40-11:00 Spelling 20 

11:00-11:25 Study Language 25 

11:25:11:45 History, Hygiene, Citizensliip 20 

1:00-1:20 Recite Language 20 

1:20-1:40 Study Geography 20 

1:40- 2:00 Writing 20 

2:00- 2:05 Recess 5 

2:05- 2:25 Recite Geography 20 

2:25- 2:45 Music 20 

2:45- 3:05 Drawing, etc 20 

A study of the above program gives the following totals of 
time in minutes devoted each day to the various subjects: 
Arithmetic, 50; Reading, 50; Language, 45; Geography, 40; 
History, Citizenship, and Hygiene, 20; Spelling, 20; Writing, 
20; Music, 20; Drawing or Library Reading, 20; Calisthen- 
ics, 5. 

This means that if a pupil is given 50 minutes each day for 
a subject as in the case of arithmetic and reading, for six years, 
he has at his disposal for the mastery of that subject a total 
of 51,120 minutes, counting 34 working weeks to the school 
year. This equals 176 school days of 4 hours and 50 minutes 
each, which is the working time in the program given above. 
In terms of months this is equal practically to nine months of 
20 school days each or to one school year. 

It does not seem excessive for an individual to devote one en- 
tire school year to the study of a fundamental subject such 
as reading or arithmetic, nor does it appear that such 
a person could be expected to acquire a very complete mastery 
of the subject in that time. 

However, as indicated above, there is another consideration 
in connection with the question, viz., how much of the time 
available for work in the subject is actually used by pupils. 

In order to throw some light on the latter question one of 
the members of the Survey class® observed three pupils, two 
fifth-grade girls and one sixth-grade boy, throughout an entire 
day. It should be added that these pupils did not know that 
they were being observed and supposedly worked as they ordi- 
narily did. 

« Miss Marion Breck, now head of the Department of Home Economics 
in the University of West Virginia. 



STANTDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 47 

In recording the way in which the time of the pupils was 
spent, Miss Breck classed it as "used" or "not used." In this 
classification she observed the following rules: (1) Any pe- 
riod which was supervised directly by the teacher was called 
a recitation, e. g., the time used for dismissing pupils was 
classified under "recitation"; (2) time spent by pupils in a 
"desultory" way was divided, half being classed as "time used" 
and half as time "not used"; (3) some of the time classed as 
"not used" was a necessary part of the administration of the 
work, e. g., the time necessary to distribute the Courtis Test 
papers, work with which formed a part of the lesson in arith- 
metic; (4) in the recitation, time was classed as "used" if the 
pupil was participating in the activities of the class or seemed 
to be giving fair attention. 

Table 15 gives the results of the observation and classifica- 
tion: 

TABLE 15 

Showing How a School Day Was Spent by Each of Three Pupils. 

Figures for Each Pupil A. B. and C. Indicate the 

Number of Minutes. 

Pupil A. Sixth-grade Boy 



Subject 


Time available 


Time used 


Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Arithmetic 

Reading 

Language 


28 

28 

19 

15 














30 
23 
36 
20 
33 
14 
20 
20 
20 
12 


58 
51 
55 
35 
33 
14 
20 
20 
20 
12 


4 
26 
4 
5 








22 
23 
36 
17 
28 
7 

15 
20 
20 
12 


26 
49 
40 


Geography 

Hj'^giene- __ _ , 


22 
28 


Spelling 

Writing 

Music. _ _ _ 


7 

15 
20 


Story Telling 

Op. Ex. & Dis- 


20 
12 


Total 


90 

28 


228 
72 


318 


.qp 


200 
90 


239 


Percentage 


100 1 43 


75 



48 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 
Pupil B. Fifth-grade Girl 



Subject 


Time available 


Time used 


Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Arithmetic 

Reading 

Language 


30 

14 

34 

23 














27 
31 
17 
17 
33 
17 
20 
22 
20 
12 


57 
45 
51 
40 
33 
17 
20 
22 
20 
12 


6 


22 
11 








9 
18 
17 
16 
33 
15 
11 
20 
20 
12 


15 
18 
39 


Geography 

Hygiene 

Spelling 

Writing _, 


27 
33 
15 
11 


Music 


20 


Reading Report— 
Op. Ex. & Dis- 


20 
12 


Total 


101 
32 


216 

68 


317 

100 


39 
26 


171 

80 


210 


Percentage 


66 



Pupil 0. Fifth-grade Girl 



Subject 


Time Available 


Time used 




Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Study 


Recita- 
tion 


Total 


Arithmetic 

Reading 

Language 


30 

14 

34 

23 














27 
31 
17 
17 
33 
17 
20 
22 
20 
12 


57 
45 
51 
40 
33 
17 
20 
22 
20 
12 


10 

20 
11 








8 
24 
17 
16 
33 
15 

9 
20 
20 
12 


18 
24 
37 


Geography 

Hygiene 


27 
33 


Spelling 


15 


Writing 

Music 


9 
20 


Reading Report- 
Op. Ex. & Dis- 


20 
12 


Total 


101 
32 


216 
68 


317 

100 


41 
41 


174 

80 


215 


Percentage- 


68 



It appears in the above table that less than one-third of the 
time of the pupils in these grades is available for work inde- 
pendent of direct supervision by the teachers, the exact per- 
centage being 32 for the fifth grade and 28 for the sixth. It 
may be that this is as it should be, but the writer is fully in 
sympathy with the somewhat common notion that we have too 
much teacher-activity in our schools and too little pupil-activ- 



Ik^.. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 49 

ity. To be sure, immature pupils cannot work without some 
direction, and it was doubtless true also that a considerable 
portion of the time classed as "recitation" above was actually 
used by the pupils to study. Superintendent Anderson stated 
that in his judgment, at least 50 per cent of the total time of 
the school day was so used. 

Taking the three fundamental subjects, Arithmetic, Reading, 
and Language, adding the figures for all three pupils, and de- 
termining percentages, we find: (1) The total time, according 
to the programs, is divided about equally between study and 
recitation ; (2) of the time available for study, 40 per cent is 
actually used; (3) of the time available for recitation, 72 per 
cent is actually used ; and (4) of the total time 57 per cent is 
used. Of these three subjects the poorest showing is in arith- 
metic, where only 22 per cent of the time available for study is 
used and 45 per cent of the time available for recitation. 

It is quite unnecessary to point out the difficulty of organiz- 
ing the work in any ordinary schoolroom and of motivating it 
so that each pupil will use the full time. It may be that the use 
of from 66 to 75 per cent of the available time is all that can 
be secured from an average pupil and it may be also that in a 
subject such as arithmetic the percentage must necessarily be 
much less. The chief purpose in this part of the study was 
simply to set forth the actual situation as accurately as pos- 
sible. The writer believes that one of the best criteria of in- 
struction is the extent to which individual pupils are kept busy 
at worth-while tasks and that even more important than plans 
for presentation or for questioning is the matter of planning 
both recitation and study periods so that each pupil has some- 
thing to do all the time. 

It is obvious, if the average pupil devotes only three-fourths 
of the available time to work, that the total time which he gives 
to the mastery of a subject as set forth above (page 46) will 
be reduced from nine months to six and three-fourths. In 
view of this, can we wonder that pupils enter high school with- 
out the ability to read or to solve ordinary problems in arith- 
metic as is so often the case in the opinion of high school teach- 
ers? 



50 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



Some Characteristics of Instruction in the Junior and 
Senior High Schools 

It is obviously impossible in a survey such as the present 
one to visit individual classrooms and evaluate the work of in- 
struction even if such subjective evaluation were worth any- 
thing. 

Rightly or wrongly it was assumed that the general tech- 
nique of instruction used in the school would be reflected in 
the reactions of pupils to a teaching situation. 

With this assumption in mind, the principals of the Junior 
and Senior high schools were asked to select eleven pupils 
from each of the grades under their supervision, choosing 
them at random so as to secure a fair sampling of ability. 
These sixty-six pupils were given the directions below in writ- 
ten form and allowed as much time as necessary to complete 
the work. The text used was one with which the pupils were 
entirely unfamiliar: 

Use the copy of Overton's General Hygiene placed on your desk. 
Do not open tlie book until the signal is given. Use the book freely 
in answering the questions given below. 

Name No Grade 

Time beginning Time finished 



QUESTIONS 

1. Suppose you were the teacher. Write below an assignment for 
the next lesson. Tell definitely just what you expect your class to do. 

2. How would you teach the lesson you have just assigned? 

3. Suppose you were the pupil. How would you prepare your 
lesson if the assignment were based on Chapter IV, and your special 
topic were typhoid fever? 

4. a. Would you feel safe In believing what is told in this book? 

Why? 

b. What is vaccination according to this book? Give the exact 
quotation. 

c. Turn to page 235. Read the last sentence. It closes with the 
words "food producer (p. 214)." Now answer this question. 
How many calories of heat does a man produce per hour 
doing very light work? (Give exact quotation.) 
Judging from the titles of the chapters, what chapter or chap- 
ters would you advise a cook to read? A public speaker? 
Tell exactly how you got your answer. 

Now turn to the front page of your paper and put in the proper 
space the time (by the clock) when you finished this test. Then 



kW4. 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 51 



hand your paper to the teacher in charge, being sure that the three 
pages are in proper order and pinned together at the left hand 
upper comer. 

Questions one and two involving assignment and teaching- 
plan were prepared with the idea that the pupils would reflect 
the kind of teaching they had received and that it would prob- 
ably be a reflection of the best teaching so far as the pupils 
were able to judge. 

Question three, it was hoped, would give an insight into 
the student's habits of study as determined by the teachers' 
direction and requirement. There was an opportunity here for 
the pupil to suggest an intelligent plan of lesson preparation : 
the use of the index in finding the discussion of the special 
topic "Typhoid fever" (this was not discussed in the chapter 
assigned) ; and the use of definite references which they may 
have found helpful before. 

In the fourth question, there was an attempt to find a few 
small details of teaching technique that would seem to char- 
acterize good work. In "(a)" the question involved was that 
of authority for statements, i. e., were pupils being given any 
basis by which they might judge the value of printed state- 
ments. In this case it was a question of looking at the title 
page- and determining from the author's experience, connec- 
tions, etc., his right to speak on this particular subject. In 
"(b)" the point involved was the use of the index or glossary. 
Part "(c)" required the accurate reading of two sentences and 
the intelligent use of a page reference. Part "(d)" involved 
the use of the table of contents as a quick and accurate means 
of securing the desired information. 

No attempt is made here to give a detailed analysis of the 
results. The results are interesting and suggestive and would 
serve as a basis for an interesting and perhaps profitable con- 
ference between teachers and supervisors, and this type of test 
carefully prepared by the local supervisor could well be used 
as the basis for a certain amount of standardization .oiAoa^kiM 
technique. 

In answering Question 1, it is significant that 57 of the 66 
pupils suggested questions as the basis of assignment, and that 
49 suggested chapter or page assignments. Four suggested 
outside references, five mentioned objective methods, one 



52 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



would have notebooks used, and one would have the lesson 
studied in class. 

In connection with Question 2, it is significant that 48 pupils 
made the teacher's questions the basis of recitation, and that 32 
suggested discussion and demonstration, while 8 suggested a 
quiz, 6 would study the lesson as a part of the recitation, and 
4 would read the lesson in recitation. 

Question 3 showed only 30 out of 66 with a definite plan of 
lesson preparation, with 27 suggesting outside references, while 
only 4 were resourceful enough to find material in the book at 
hand by use of the index. 

In Question 4, part "(a)," only 19 pupils were able to pass 
judgment on the author of the text used. In parts "(b)" and 
"(c)" 54 made proper use of the index or glossary, and 41 
properly used a rather difficult page reference. 

It is interesting to note that the pupils in the Junior High 
School did fully as well in general as the older pupils. 

The results of this test and others similar to it would justify 
careful study on the part of supervisors and teachers. The 
development of strong independent methods of work on the 
part of pupils should be one of the chief objects in high school 
instruction. 



How Teachers Spend Their Time ' 

In view of the oft-repeated statements concerning the time 
put in on school work by teachers, an attempt was made to 
ascertain the actual conditions by asking the teachers to re- 
port: (1) The amount of time given to instruction, i. e., class 
work; (2) the amount of time put in at the building on school 
work other than instruction, i. e., playground or class super- 
vision, preparation of work, marking of papers, etc. ; and (3) 
the amount of time devoted to any phase of school work at 
home. 

The showing is indicated in Table 16. Teachers re- 
ported in minutes, but in tabulating the returns fifteen minutes 
was called a half hour, while anything less than fifteen minutes 
was disregarded. 



tv^, 



STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 53 

TABLE 16 

SHOwmo Amount of Time Devoted to Schooi. Woek by Teachees. 

Total Number Reporting, Poety-foue. Figures Are Num- 
bers of Teachers for Each Division of Time. 







Other 




Total school 




Total 


Hours 


Instruc- 


school 


School 


work in addi- 


Hours 


for all 


per 


tion 


work at 


work at 


tion to in- 


per 


school 


day 




building 


home 


struction 


day 


work 







1 


14 




: 3.5 


2 


0.5 






11 


i 


i ._-.— 




1.0 




10 


10 


2 


6.0 


2 


1.5 




_- 5 


6 


3 


6.5 


5 


2.0 


1 


9 


1 


8 


7.0 


9 


2.5 




3 




7 


7.5 


11 


3.0 


2 


9 


2 


7 


8.0 


5 


3.5 


2 


3 




7 


8.5 


2 


4.0 


5 


2 




3 


9.0 


4 


4.5 


6 






2 


9.5 


2 


6.0 


23 






2 


10.0 


1 


5.5 


2 










__ 


6.0 


3 


2 





2 


13.0 


1 



Median hours— 
Average hours. 



.5.1 

.4.7 



2.3 
2.3 



0.8 
0.7 



3.1 
3.0 



7.9 
7.5 



Apparently the teachers do but little school work at home, 
since 35 out of 44 do 1 hour or less, while 14 do none. Equally 
obvious, however, is the fact that the day's work is not com- 
plete when classes are "heard." Both the median and average 
for the time devoted to school work outside of instruction at 
the building is 2.3 hours, while the median for work at home 
is 3.1 and the average 3 hours. The total median day for the 
teacher is 7.9 hours and the average 7.5. 

According to the above data the idea that teachers "work far 
into the night" is a pleasant (or unpleasant) fiction, while the 
notion that teachers have a "short day" is equally without 
foundation — the day in Stoughton being of the standard eight- 
hour variety. 



Results of Intelligence and Scholastic Tests Compared 

Effective school work depends largely upon the selection of 
such plans of organization, attendance regulations, motivation, 
etc., as will best enable and stimulate each individual pupil to 
work up to within a reasonable distance of his capacity. The 



54 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

scholastic attainment of a pupil at a particular time depends 
upon the extent to which the school has succeeded in doing 
this in his case and upon his own native ability or intelligence. 

Within recent years our schools have made large use of both 
scholastic and intelligence tests, the latter being used with the 
former as a basis for reclassification of pupils. Whether or 
not pupils are formally reclassified, it seems that any school 
should make an earnest and intelligent effort to ascertain to 
what extent the scholastic attainments of its pupils are com- 
mensurate with their abilities. 

To this end it was planned to use an intelligence test through- 
out the school and to compare the showing of each individual 
pupil with his scholastic record in connection with the various 
tests. It was impossible to do this on account of the failure 
of the intelligence test material to arrive before the close of 
school. 

In order to set forth the method for such work and to se- 
cure a basis for discussing its significance for schools, similar 
material from a survey conducted in another system the fol- 
lowing year is presented. 

As a measure of scholastic attainment, tests in the three 
fundamental subjects only, Reading, Arithmetic, and Lan- 
guage, were included. As a measure of intelligence, Pressy's 
Mental Survey, Schedule D, was used. 

An ideal comparison of scholastic attainment would be ob- 
tained by taking a certain number, say twenty-five, pupils of 
the same age, with the same intelligence rating, and in the same 
grade. It was impossible, however, to find twenty-five such 
pupils. Twenty-four pupils were selected with practically the 
same intelligence rating. Their ages ranged from 10 to 14 
and their grades from the sixth to the eighth. The records of 
these twenty-four pupils are presented in Table 17. The scores 
in intelligence are in percentages of the standards for the va- 
rious ages and in the various scholastic tests the scores are the 
percentages which the pupil's scores are of the standard scores 
for his grade. The fifth column, "Scholastic Average," is 
made up by averaging all the percentages following. 



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STANDARD TESTS AS AIDS IN SCHOOL SUPERVISION 55 

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56 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



The table is to be interpreted as follows: The first two 
pupils, Nos. 323 and 436, are each 10 years of age ; they have 
the same intelligence rating, 95 per cent of the standard for 
their age; No. 323 has a scholastic average of 78 per cent of 
the standards for the sixth grade and No. 436 has a scholastic 
average of 103 per cent of the same standards; the remaining 
figures indicate the standings of the two pupils in the different 
tests. In a similar way comparisons may be made of other 
groups of the same age in the same grade. 

Taking the entire twenty-four pupils we have a group with 
practically the same ability, but with composite scholastic at- 
tainments ranging from 75 per cent to 126 per cent of a rea- 
sonable or average attainment. 

The question for the school to answer is, "What accounts for 
these great differences in scholastic attainment?" With the 
same quality of raw material in each of twenty-four cases, the 
results are greatly different. Are the differences due to differ- 
ences in regularity of attendance, to differences in effectiveness 
of instruction, to differences in motivation, or to — what? 

It is not suggested that pupils with the same degree of intel- 
ligence can be brought to the same level of scholastic attain- 
ment, but it seems that any school would do well to give care- 
ful attention to the relationship existing between the quality 
of its material and of its product. 



««*W»MBH^ 



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